The Purpose of Anger
If your anger serves no purpose then you must let it go.
Anger is one of the most valuable emotions and teachers embedded into our human experience. Our anger can fuel inspiration, action, growth, and motivation. It can inspire us to change or to make change - to evolve or to transform. But anger, like a flame, requires a carrier in order to be purposeful.
Anger cannot exist on its own otherwise it may consume us in our entirety.
If your anger fuels your activism then it is purposeful. If your anger teaches you about who you are, what you value, or your boundaries then it is purposeful. If your anger inspires you to do something worthy then it is purposeful.
If your anger does nothing but perpetuate more anger, then it is useless.
Anger can be fooled by the ego into thinking that reactivity is satisfying and fulfilling; that it feels good to be angry. However, the more we encourage this, the more emotionally messy we become. Our motivations to be angry become unclear and our sense of self becomes muddled in our constant reactivity.
When anger meets ego, it no longer seeks a carrier for its existence. Anger begins to consume the closest source of energy - it consumes you.
Ego and anger are not a healthy pairing, together they create an inflation of pride and disillusionment.
Pride disillusions us into thinking we are superior to or more perfect than others, which is simply untrue.
When our anger manifests into an inflated sense of self (pride), we begin to separate ourselves from the collective and our motives become self-centred and selfish. Our sense of empathy becomes weaker because we are unable to see ourselves in others or to relate to those around us.
To avoid this dire outcome, we must keep ourselves emotionally accountable. When we are experiencing anger we must ask:
What does this anger teach me about myself?
What does this anger tell me about my needs and boundaries?
What does this anger teach me about my values?
What does this anger ask me to do or to change?
And of course, "why?" Why anger instead of the infinite other emotions we could be experiencing. Why is anger my teacher today?
